Cong's dilemma: what next?

HT Correspondent,
Chandigarh

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Updated: Jan 20, 2014 10:11 IST

With the Punjab and Haryana high court refusing to entertain the public interest litigation of Punjab Congress leaders demanding a CBI probe into the drug nexus, the party now faces the dilemma of what next.

According to sources, at the AICC meeting held in New Delhi last week, senior party leaders had raised the drugs issue during their discussions with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

While the demand by Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa for a CBI probe found Rahul's support, he asked them to seek it through the high court, signalling that the party high command would not approach the UPA government for it.

The high court's decision has come as a setback for the ongoing agitation and relay hunger strikes planned by the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee in the state after its chakka jam on January 16 to build pressure on the Parkash Singh Badal government to hand over the investigations into the allegations by druglord Jagdish Bhola against revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia to the CBI.

The high court last year had dismissed the PCC president's petition challenging delimitation of wards for panchayat polls, a verdict that was hailed by ruling Badals as Bajwa's "self-goal".